Scheat, Proserpina Prefecture, Benjamin Military District – December 23rd, 3050, 10:00 hrs
Place: South of the detention center
The heavy black clouds that had formed in the sky started pouring down large, heavy raindrops as the extraction team moved as quickly as possible away from the detention center. The soft floor of the forest quickly started to turn soupy and slick. So much so that Lt. Ryan Lewis worried that the APC might get stuck.
It didn't take long before the lance that had stayed back to defend the facility found Black lance. The word was out, apparently, that a team of commandos had raided the detention facility, and these four 'mechs had been dispatched to try to put the interlopers down. Ryan took up a trailing position, relying on Yoshi Adder to keep a close watch on their tail as he and the other mechwarriors focused on piloting their machines in the treacherous storm.
Fortunately for the Strykers, the Combine forces had no idea yet that there was a full heavy lance running around deep behind their lines. When the first Panther found Ryan's Victor, it fired a pot shot from medium range that impacted his relatively heavy rear armor. Hoping that the ECM in Zoey's Spider was masking the other 'mechs in the lance and Slayer was the only 'mech spotted so far, Ryan sent the rest of the lance on ahead and played cat and mouse with the two pairs of combine 'mechs that they had encountered.
He had been able to keep moving and avoid engaging the whole lance at once, using the larger engine to his advantage. Even though the Victor outweighed the two heavy 'mechs in the DCMS lance by 15 tons, Ryan could move a full 10 kph faster than theCatapults or the Panthers were capable of. Add to that the fact that he also had jump jets, and he had little concern about being able to break away from the enemy lance once he had led them on a long enough chase.
It's about been long enough, Ryan though as he launched the assault 'mech over another natural hedgerow in the landscape. TheVictor shuddered as it crashed back to the ground and Ryan spun to his right, lining up another shot on the Panther. Behind him in the jump seat, Yoshi Adder unleashed a stream of rapid, angry sounding Japanese. He fired, scoring solid hits with his autocannon and pulse lasers; his missiles sailed past the light 'mech, which had stopped and turned to face him, and he held his PPC in check to avoid overheating. The air in the cockpit was already stifling.
He spoke loudly so that his voice would carry in the cockpit, "Look, I'm sure whatever you just said was very helpful, but I can't understand a word you said just now. My Japanese is very limited at the best, and with you talking so fast," he paused as he adjusted the throttle to throw off the Panther's aim a bit and return fire with his autocannon again. "…and with me needing to focus on other things," he continued, "it might be best if you just stick to English for now."
She said something else to herself quietly in her native tongue, then addressed Ryan in accented, but very understandable English, "Whatever. Look, all I said was –" She was cut off by Ryan quickly sidestepping the Victor to avoid PPC and SRM fire , resulting in Yoshi's head bouncing off the padded headrest of the passenger jump seat. This prompted another outburst of Japanese, followed by, "Damn it! What in the hells are you doing?"
"Trying to not die here!" Ryan quipped as emerald pulses of light lanced out from the right side of the Victor's chest to melt more armor off his attacker. He followed up with another salvo from both of his SRMs. The Panther staggered but did not go down. Ryan turned and began racing back toward the rest of Black Lance at nearly 74 kph, faster than the Panther or the Catapult could follow. A salvo of LRMs from the Panther's companion chipped more armor off the Victor's arms, legs, and back before he could slip out of sight in the woods.
A short time later, he had caught up with the rest of the Lance and slipped in under the cover of Zoey's ECM. He opened a channel to the rest others, "Still two Catapults and two Panthers back there. They couldn't keep pace once I broke contact, but we might need to alter course…not that it's that hard to track these beasts through a forest if you have a decent set of eyes in your head."
The four 'mechs escorting the APC kept moving, Divad's Cataphract taking point. They moved single file to try to minimize the size of the swath the 'mechs carved through the trees, scrub brush, and slick mud. They'd been on the move again for about two minutes when Janus voice came over the lance's channel, "Black, we've got an issue over here. Looks like whatever hit Pvt. Kareef in the back poked a shard of metal through his vest. He just passed out. He's bleeding…bad. The commandos say that they can stabilize him so that he can be treated on the DropShip, but they need the APC to be stationary for a bit."
Ryan's mind started working quickly, weighing his options. Leave the APC behind while the infantrymen tried to save their brother's life; have the APC stop and have the 'mechs defend it; tell the APC to keep moving and do what they could for Kareef until they stopped to get Yoshi's 'mech; or abandon Yoshi's 'mech and call the DropShip to the location they were at right now. Those were the choices he saw. He didn't particularly like any of them, but he knew what he had to do.
Kareef had risked his life to save a complete stranger. It was time to show him that it meant something. He thought for a second before he spoke, "Alright, here's what we're going to do. Set up a defensive formation around the APC. Rico, do what you need to do as quick as you can. As soon as it's safe to move again, you let me know."
Sgt. Mercado's voice answered from the APC, "LT, we've got this. And we can catch back up with you. You should keep moving to recover the 'mech. They know we're here…and they're out looking for us."
Even though the experienced trooper couldn't see him, Ryan shook his head as he replied, "No, we're staying together. If those 'mechs come for you, you're a sitting duck there. What I do want is this: Janus, you and the FedCom reporters get out of the APC, I want each of you riding shotgun in a 'mech. Get it done."
He watched through the rain slicked cockpit view screen of his Victor as the ramp on the rear of the APC lowered. Janus' blond hair poked out of the vehicle first and she directed the two rescued FedCom expats toward Zoey and Sarah's 'mechs. Then she moved quickly through the downpour toward Divad's Cataphract.
One by one, each of the other three mechwarriors in Ryan's lance reported their passengers were secure. Ryan turned on the external pick-up, listening for any sound he could pick up as he scanned the forest around him with all available sensors. "There!" Yoshi called out from behind him as Ryan saw the first blip appear on his screen.
"I see it, too," he answered calmly. The seismic sensor he installed was the first to pick anything up, and he looked closely at the scanner before he opened a channel, "Bus Driver, I hope you're almost ready to roll. I've got two contacts on seismic, about 300 meters out and closing." He adjusted his crosshairs slightly, trying to anticipate where the opposing 'mechs would first come into view.
On the tactical map, Ryan saw the APC's symbol start moving. He was about to ask for a status report when Sgt. Mercado's voice crackled on the comm. "We're moving Black Leader." There was something in Rico's voice that Ryan couldn't place until the rest of the report came through, "It was too late. Private Kareef is gone. We couldn't stop the bleeding in time."
Suddenly, Ryan didn't feel like waiting for the Combine 'mechs to just walk to him anymore, "Blimie, Scarlet Angel, on me. Focus fire. The Catapults are priority." Without waiting to see if the Cataphract pilots followed, he threw the throttle forward, snapping off a shot at the lead Panther as soon as it came into view. It was basically a casual shot, a single PPC bolt that he squeezed the trigger for without really aiming, but it caught the Panther square in the chest. Combined with damage he had done to the light 'mech in their previous engagement, though, the shot pushed through the weakened armor on the 'mech's chest.
As the Panther tried to retaliate, Ryan slammed his foot pedals down to the floor, triggering his jump jets and launching the 80 ton monster into the air, flying straight toward the light 'mech that had just missed with both of its weapons. At the apex of his jump, Ryan spotted the Catapult, standing stationary as it tried to get an lock for its long range missiles. Ryan triggered his LB 10-X and both SRM racks and then cut power to the jump jets as Slayer passed over the Panther.
Ryan heard Yoshi say something as the cockpit shook from the violent impact, but he tuned her out. He could feel a vibration that lasted longer than it should have and recognized it as the result of the Panther's gyroscope tearing itself apart against the armor on the Victor's leg.
Sergeant Shinsaku Fukuda watched in horror as the mercenary assault 'mech dropped from the sky and crushed his lancemate'sPanther. The Victor's bulky right leg came down on the 35 ton 'mech's head, driving it down into the Panther's chest and knocking the dying 'mech onto its back.
The Victor had crouched slightly to absorb some of the impact as it landed. Now, it rose to it's full height and turned it's head toward Shinsaku's Catapult. Both arms stabbed out, a ballistic slug and ion bolt slicing into the armor on the fire support 'mech's nose. TheVictor took a step forward, it's right leg coming clear of the hole in the dead 'mech's chest trailing wires and myomer and dripping hydraulic fluid and coolant like entrails and blood.
The monster stood facing him now, and the pulse lasers in it's abdomen stabbed out, scoring another hit on Shinsaku's weakened torso armor. It was the same machine they had been facing before. The one that had harassed them, ravaged their armor, and then slipped off into the forest and the rain. A split second before the DCMS sergeant loosed a flight of missiles from his arm pods, the mercenary 'mech disappeared from his sensors. With no signal to home in on, the missiles flew long behind the Victor as it stomped toward him, instead impacting the ravaged remains of Lance Corporal Takeshi MacKellar's Panther.
Shinsaku Fukuda barely noticed the flashing "Low Signal Strength" warning on his tactical map as he mashed the trigger for all four of his torso mounted medium lasers. The lasers scored hits across the Victor's chest, but the armor was thick and the skilled pilot twisted his torso as he advanced, spreading the damage across all three locations as he closed more quickly than a 'mech that heavy should be able to.
The veteran mechwarrior of the Fourth Proserpina Hussars cursed as his sensors continued to refuse to acknowledge the Victor'spresence, preventing his LRMs from locking on. It's like a ghost, the Sergeant was scared, more scared than he'd been in his life. In his eight years as a mechwarrior for the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, he'd never seen a 'mech just disappear from his sensors. Shinsaku tried to shake himself out of his funk as the Victor torso twisted toward him and unleashed another slug from his arm mounted autocannon.
As the shell exploded against his left torso armor and Shinsaku fought to keep the Catapult from twisting to the side, he told himself,It's not a ghost. If I can see it, I can shoot it. He pulled the trigger for four his medium lasers again, scoring another solid hit and proving to himself that the monster he faced was real enough.
But it didn't matter. It was too late. All of the Victor's weapons had recycled, and the mechwarrior piloting it fired them all at the same time. The torso mounted pulse lasers stuck first, coring through what little armor was left on the Catapult's center torso and started working the internal structure there. The PPC spent its energy on the weakened armor protecting the right torso at the same time as the cluster rounds from the autocannon peppered Shinsaku's 'mech. The PPC did not punch through the armor it impacted, but several of the autocannon munitions detonated against the exposed skeleton of the center torso. Critical damage warning lights started to flash in the cockpit even as most of the Victor's dozen SRMs slammed into the dying Catapult.
The explosive in one of the missiles blew out several pieces of the persplex that made up the Catapult's windshield, several of the shards shooting back into the cockpit. Shinsaku was lucky that none of the jagged edges found a vital part of his body. The Catapultshuttered and the heat spiked in the cockpit despite the gaping hole in the canopy for the stifling air to escape out of. A fraction of a second later, the 'mech shut itself down.
When the fusion engine underneath him didn't spring back to life on its own a second or two later, Sgt. Fukuda mashed his hand down on the override button. When that didn't work either, he tried to run the 'mech through a normal start-up sequence. Still nothing. Shinsaku realized what had happened. He tore off his neurohelmet and unstrapped. Seconds later, he was able to confirm that one of the persplex shards had sliced clean through the det cord that provided the firing signal to launch his ejection seat.
Sergeant Shinsaku Fukuda turned and looked out of his cockpit. The Victor, the ghost, turned its attention away from the guttedCatapult, turning its head as the pilot of the fearsome machine scanned the forest for the rest of the Combine defenders. A few seconds later, it turned and started walking back the way it had come. As it disappeared back into the woods, Shinsaku could have sworn he saw the faint outline of a smaller 'mech cross behind it. And then, it faded once more into the storm and the trees.
Shinsaku was left alone in the quiet; the wind and rain the only noise as he could do little more than sit and wait for rescue to arrive. He gathered his kit from his locker. There was a slim chance that Takeshi had survived the impact of the 80 ton Victor, and Shinsaku meant to confirm the young warrior's survival or demise.
12
